The Assassin's Ordeal
by Gianni Lee
Summary: Shepard has made some enemies while saving the universe. But when her enemies can't find her they kidnap her lover, Thane. Can Kolyat save his father with a little help from Shepard's old team? Or will Thane pay the ultimate price for his Siha?
1. INTERROGATED

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

_..~~~**~~~.._

The Assassin's Ordeal

..~~~**~~~..

1: INTERROGATED

_Thane and Kaiya sat on the couch of the Citadel apartment they shared; he takes her hand in his and turns slightly to face her. Last night he'd had a breathing attack, thankfully, Kaiya was there to assist him, but it brought home his mortality and just how close death was looming over him. He still has his good days, but lately they have been fewer and farther between._

"_Siha…" he begins solemnly, his eyes fixes on their locked hands. "I…I think…you should look for someone else. Someone you can spend your life with." _

"_No." she states matter of factly._

"_Please don't make this more difficult then it all ready is." He pleads still unable to meet her eyes. She reaches out and lifts his chin until he can see the sincerity in her eyes._

"_Thane, I'm not giving up on you. I care about you and I plan to see this through with you. You don't need to face this illness on your own. You've spent too much of your life alone to die alone. Yes, I will mourn your loss, but until then I plan to enjoy every precious moment we have." She pulls her hands from his and straddles his lap, resting her hands on his shoulders. "I am not letting you break up with me. Period. End of discussion."_

"_I am thinking of you and what would be best for you." He confesses, resting his hands on her hips._

"_I am a grown woman, capable of making my own decisions. No one has 'decided what is best' for me, except for me, since I was 16 years old. So you'd better face the facts… you're stuck with me."_

_He smiles up at her, confessing that he should have known better, his hands tenderly running the length of her arms._

"_Yes, you should have." She smiles back at him. "You said it yourself; we Sihas are a tenacious bunch." She ends any further comments by pressing her lips to his._

..~~~**~~~..

Thane comes out of the memory to a loud, continual sound like an alarm of some kind. He has just enough time to wonder why the alarm is sounding before his mind figures out the alarm is him screaming. Electricity dances across and through him, sending intense pain along his nerves. The Batarian finally releases the trigger and Thane slumps desperate to catch his breath and infinitely grateful the pain had stopped.

The Batarian takes a moment to allow Thane to catch his breath before asking. "Have you changed your mind, Drell?"

"No." Thane weakly answers his defiant eyes locking onto his tormentor's face.

"This is a waste of time Vox; we've been at this for three days." A second Batarian says obviously irritated with Thane's strong will. "Bring in Monster and let it have a go at him. It hasn't failed us yet."

"The Salarian isn't done with it yet, Alak." Vox responded.

"That bastard is on **our** payroll, remind him of that and fetch Monster." Vox orders, watching Alak leave the room to fulfill his orders. Vox studies Thane who is strung up in a primitive, yet effective, manner…upright on a metal mesh with chains securing the Drell's wrists and ankles.

"There's no need for all this pain Drell, I have no qualm with you. Give me the one who killed my brother and you can leave. Give me Shepard."

"Your brother tried to kill Shepard." Thane says faintly through the pain.

"Only out of self defense, the human fired first."

"That's not what I witnessed."

Thane's response is met with a right hook. "Have it your way assassin, in the end your resistance won't matter. Monster will pull the information straight from your mind if necessary."

Mentally Thane prays to Arashu, goddess of motherhood and protection, for the strength to protect his Siha from these men. He then prays to Kalihira, goddess of oceans and the afterlife, asking her for a quick, clean death and safe passage to the after life. So lost in his meditations was he that he failed to notice Vox retuning until the rattle of chains catches his attention. Weakly he looks up and watches the Batarian drag in a humanoid creature, with a long thick chain attached to a wide metal collar. Thane can only assume this is Monster.

Monster is not what he is expecting, the first thing he notices is the height, or lack thereof as Monster stands barely 5 feet and looks half starved. He easily makes out the gender, based upon the hips and small bust as female. Her skin is a deep blue similar to an Asari, but it has the sheen and texture of a Turian. Her head has a human shape, one mouth, one nose and two eyes, but that's where the similarities end as she has the head tendrils of a Turian, but the molted coloration of Asari. He cannot see her hands because of the metal sleeve they are bound in which completely encase her hands up to her elbows. Her slender legs and small bare feet look human. Thane finds himself wondering what this creature is.

Vox takes the chain from Alak and tugs sharply, causing Monster to stumble and fall. She uses her confined hands to break her fall, but hits herself in the face in the process.

"Stand up you stupid thing!" Vox harshly demands. Monster struggles, to obey quickly, causing Vox to pull the chain again. Monster stumbles again but did not fall.

"You see this Drell over here?" Vox asks, pointing at his prisoner. Monster quickly glances at Thane and pulls her eyes back to her feet, nodding her head.

"He's got information I want about a human names Shepard. I want to know where Shepard is. You get me that intel like a good little animal and you'll get table scraps tonight. Understand?"

Again Monster nods.

Vox uses his Omni-Tool to unlock Monster's restraints, freeing her hands. She hesitates a moment, watching her three digit hands clenching and unclenching, knuckles popping in response.

"Don't just stand there, idiot! Get to work!" Vox barks, causing Monster to cringe and shy away from him and towards Thane. Once she is standing in front of him she looks up at him. He is taken back by her eyes, her Krogan eyes. But they are not red like other Krogan; they are blue like Grunt's. Again he finds himself wondering what this creature is. She seems to be a mix of so many that it is possible she is a new race. She reaches out to cup his face with her Turian hands and he finds himself pulling back.

"Stop!" a Salarian snaps, bursting into the room. Monster cringes and sits in a small ball on the floor at Thane's feet.

"What is the meaning of this Dax?" Vox demands.

"He's a biotic. We've never used Monster against another biotic. I can't predict what will happen without testing."

Vox explodes into action, grabbing Dax by the throat "Then today we will find out." He growls. "Get on with it!" he shouts at Monster, tossing the slender Salarian aside.

Monster slowly gets to her feet and cups Thane's face, forcing him to look into her strange blue Krogan eyes as they flash to a solid black and dark energy surround them. He has time to gasp before he feels her in his mind, searching through his memories. He throws up barriers and lashes out mentally, trying to driver her from his mind, only to find himself in hers. He hears her gasp softly when she becomes aware of his presence.

In the span of a heartbeat he has lived her entire life; her memories are like his, her life experiences are burned into his mind as if he lived them. He knows the pain she has suffered at their hands, the experiments the Salarian has subjected her to. He knows the people she's been forced to break, the minds she's had to destroy in order to appease her masters. Through her he learns the true meaning of despair and pain. She has no memories of a time before these men, nor has she known any name other than Monster.

In his mind she becomes him, tasting the freedom to go wherever, whenever. She finds memories of his wife, Irikah and learns about love and beauty. She sees memories of Kolyat, his son, and learns about joy and responsibility. She then finds memories of those he worked with when fighting the Collectors and learns about hope and friendship. His entire life is open for her to explore despite his best efforts to the contrary. Finally she finds Shepard.

"Siha." Her lips whisper softly. Her hands tremble as her black eyes change back to her strange Krogan blue.

"No." he breaths.

"Well?" Vox demands.

"No find." She lies, her eyes still locked with Thane's, he knows she lying and he knows the price she will pay for her failure.

"What do you mean you couldn't find Shepard!" Vox shouts, grabbing Monster and throwing her across the room. There is a loud thud as her delicate frame hits the wall with enough force to crack the plaster.

"Strong mind." She protests, while cringing from the furious Batarian. Helpless, Thane watches as Vox and Alak beat this frail slip of a girl with fists and feet, her cries and whimpers filling the small room.


	2. MISSING

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

_..~~~**~~~.._

2: MISSING

"Any news on my father?" Kolyat asks, standing in front of Captain Baily's desk.

"Son, your father is a grown man, and from what I've heard one of the most dangerous in the galaxy, I'm sure he is capable of taking care of himself. Besides with everything else going on I simply don't have the resources to spare to search for a man who probably isn't missing." Captain Bailey said.

"My father is also a very sick man who has missed his doctor's appointment, hasn't contacted me in two days and is not at his apartment. He's not at the morgue or at any of the clinics. Something has happened to my father." The young Drell argues.

"Kolyat, you are one of the best members of my team, but you know as well as I that we don't have the man power to spare. I will help you in any way that I can, but officially my hands and resources are tied."

"So what am I suppose to do now?"

"Well, let's look at some of his associates. He's friends with Commander Shepard, right?"

"Yeah, they're friends." Kolyat scoffs, he knows of his father's relationship with the human and he neither approves nor understands it. He is thankful that the two keep their relationship low key, and that it is one topic that Kolyat and Thane avoid…an impressive feat considering father and son speak every day.

"So, give me some time to compile a list of her known associates and we'll see if you recognize any of the names. It will at least be a starting point. Once we have that if you need to take some time we can use your accrued vacation time to cover your absence, and then if necessary I can put you on leave. In the meantime finish out your shift; you have three reports that need to be filed."

"Thank you, Captain." Kolyat says, returning to his desk.

..~~~**~~~..

Several hours later Kolyat was reviewing a list of names of everyone considered to be an associate of Commander Shepard in one of the bars on the Citadel. He had no idea the list would be so long, was there anyone in the known universe that this woman did not know? Some names he recognized immediately due to either their political standing or notorious reputations. Other names he recognized from his father's stories, but dismissed them as being either too far to help, too difficult to track down or in the case of Jack, just too dangerous. Finally he finds himself sending a message to the only name on Captain Bailey's who is rumored to be in Citadel space, a Turian named Garrus Vakarian. He pays his tab and headed back to his small apartment located in the better part of the Wards. He stops along the way to pick up a few groceries, and to speak with a shop keeper his father had frequently mentioned.

With virtually no leads into Thane's disappearance he sits at his small desk to review the surveillance video Captain Bailey had copied for him. He quickly finds Thane, and then sets about telling the computer to only show video of Thane for that day. While the system worked, Kolyat busies himself by making some tea and dinner.

Dinner eaten and dishes cleaned, his system was only 30% complete. Frustrated he crosses his arms and sighs. He knows his computer is trying scanning every security feed from the entire Citadel for a single person, but that didn't help the anxiousness gnawing at him. He sits in his chair, staring that the monitor, willing the computer to go faster.

31% complete.

This is looking like a long night. Again Kolyat pulls out the list of known associates of Commander Shepard and starts a new list of associates he knows his father keeps. He breaks the list down into associates on the Citadel, those on Kahje, and those he shares with Shepard. He placed the Citadel list before all others, and priorities the list of names.

32% complete.

"Damn it." He breaths, walking about his small apartment, desperately searching for some type of distraction, unable to find one he sits back down across from his monitor. He crosses his arms and leans back in the chair until the weariness of the late hours and his early morning shift catch up to him. Slumber takes him into its gentle embrace as he waits for any sign of his father.

..~~~**~~~..

_I know you don't know me, but you know my father, Thane Krios. He's been residing on the Citadel for the past month, where we've been speaking every day, but now he's disappeared and C-Sec cannot help me. It has been 2 two days since anyone has seen or heard from him and this is not like him. If you can, please help._

_- Kolyat Krios -_

Garrus rereads the e-mail carefully; it could be a trap after all he has made some powerful enemies. He triple checks the message source, using different methods each times, and every time it returns the same result. The message was indeed sent by Kolyat Krios, the would-be assassin who now works for C-Sec.

Garrus looked over at the human mercenary, Zaeed Massani. After defeating the Collectors Garrus promised to help him find and kill Vido. Zaeed and Shepard had gone earlier, but due to innocent lives being at stake, Vido got away. Garrus knows the satisfaction of hunting down and killing the one who betrayed you and he felt obligated to help Zaeed take down Vido. It took nearly 2 years, but the pair had managed to track down the Blue Suns co-founder.

Zaeed now sits in the co-pilots seat with his arms crossed over his chest, head leaned back and eyes closed, probably reliving Vido's slow demise.

"What?" Zaeed asked, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Got a message from Thane's son."

"And?"

"Thane is missing, the kid's asking for help."

Zaeed opened one eye and looked at Garrus for about 45 seconds before closing his eye again. "I suppose you're going to rope me into helping?"

"Yes, I was planning on it."

"Good. That assassin saved my ass once, and I don't like leaving my debts unpaid."

"We should be there in about 5 hours. I'm going research Kolyat as well as Kolyat's and Thane's recent activities."

"You're not going to notify him that we're coming?"

"No. We have too many enemies who might come across this message and set up an ambush."

"Good thinking. I'm going to sleep. Wake me when we dock."


	3. SEARCHING

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

_..~~~**~~~.._

**3: SEARCHING**

Kolytat wakes suddenly to someone calling his name, in an instant he is prepared to fight the Turian and Human who have entered his home without permission.

"Easy kid, we're friends of your father's." the Human says.

"I'm Garrus, and this is Zaeed, you asked for our help."

"I didn't expect a response this quick, let alone one in person." Kolyat says, visibly relaxing.

"We happened to be in the area." Zaeed says, causally looking about the small apartment, taking a moment to admire the holo of a Drell woman, going so far as to pick it up.

"That's my mom."

Zaeed makes some approving sound and carefully sets the holo back on the shelf.

"Your message said Thane's missing." Garrus starts.

"Yeah, he's got an apartment on the Presidium we've been…rebuilding our relationship. Every day we meet and talk, three days ago we met for lunch, then the next two days, nothing. His doctor called me looking for him, I went to his apartment but it doesn't look like he's been there." Kolyat reports keeping while half an eye on Zaeed who was now studying the computer.

"What about Shepard? What does she have to say about his disappearance?" Garrus asks

"The Council has her on a mission…she doesn't know."

Garrus and Zaeed exchange brief looks.

"What're you working on over here?" Zaeed asks before Kolyat can question their look.

"Captain Baily forwarded me the security video from the last day I saw my father. I'm having the computer isolate only the pieces concerning my father."

"When did you start this?"

Kolyat glances at his Omni-tool's time feature, before answering it was nine hours ago.

"Well, it's up to 80%. I say we take this and have our ship's computer render it." Zaeed suggested.

"How long will that take?"

"I would estimate about 2 hours." Garrus said. Kolyat shrugged and agreed. Garrus used his Omni-tool to access Kolyat's computer to transfer the file and begin the rendering.

"Now, while the ship's doing that why don't you tell us about your dad's activities, places his frequents, friends…things like that."

"Sure, but let me change first." The young Drell said, heading towards the bedroom.

Zaeed returned to the holo on Thane's late wife and studies it closely.

"You know, she ain't half bad. Nice tits."

You do realize that Drell women do have mammary glands like your species, right?"

"So?"

"I'm just saying they're fat reserves their bodies use when pregnant and do not produce milk. I'm not sure if they even have nipples."

"So? I like small tits, I don't care if they make milk or not. What about you? You like small tits? Do Turian women have tits?"

"You know what, I'm not going to stand here in Kolyat's living room and talk about his dead mother."

"Why? She won't care."

Garrus simply remains silent.

Kolyat walks back into the room, in a clean set of clothes and trying to work a kink out of his neck. "Where do you want me to begin?"

..~~~**~~~..

Thane is exhausted, hungry and his throat is raw from his constant screaming; when the Batarians were not torturing him the Salarian was. He knows this tactic, keep the Drell awake, deny him food and water, inflict enough pain and hope he slips into a useful memory. Thane; however, would not slip so easily, he forces himself to stay in the present. The chains wrapped about his wrists were cutting into his skin; he could feel a thin trickle of warm blood make its way down his arm. He clenched and unclenched his hands help keep feeling in his fingers.

"You know you can end this any time." The annoying little Salarian reminds.

After yet another refusal to break, the Salarian curses loudly and leaves the room. Thane moves his weary eyes to Monster. She has not moved all day, not even when they brought her food and water, which still sits beside her completely untouched.

He wants to call out to her, to see if she is ok, but he finds he lacks the energy to do so, instead he drops his heads and passes out.

..~~~**~~~..

Zaeed, Garrus and Kolyat sit in front of the monitor aboard their ship and watch the security recordings of the days Thane disappeared.

"There's us having lunch. I was there for about 20 minutes before I had to return to work." Kolyat stated, pointing to two figures sitting at a far table. The trio watches as father and son sit, talk and eat. They then watch Kolyat leave, the small diner followed by Thane five minutes later. The video feed jumps, showing Thane walking up to a small kiosk; he sits on a stool and orders a hot beverage from the clerk. Thane and the clerk talk for a bit, but there is something odd about the conversation.

"Who is that?" Garrus asks.

"I don't know, but I know where that shop is."

They watch as Thane stands up on uncertain legs. He tries to take a step but stumbles heavily into passing Krogan, who catches the lithe Drell and escorts him out of the shop. There the video stops there and the screen informed them that there was no more information for the search perimeter. With a few clicks on the virtual keyboard, Garrus pulls up the entire feed and limits the search for the Krogan and Drell after leaving the shop.

Fifteen minutes later the video resumes, showing the Krogan escorting an intoxicated looking Drell towards the docking bay and passing him off to a well dressed Batarian who hurried his prize into a small ship.

"We gotta find that ship." Zaeed pointed out.

Kolyat pushes past Garrus pauses the recording and zooms in on the ship's registry getting the ship's name and number. His heart racing, this is their first real lead into his father's disappearance and he was not going to loose it.

"I can use my C-Sec access to track that ship."

"First, show me where this shop is; I want to talk to this clerk." Garrus said.

"I think I might know that Krogan, I'll check out the Wards, meet you back here later." Zaeed said, grabbing one of his guns as he left the ship.

..~~~**~~~..

Thane finds himself floating weightlessly, in a warm comforting void. He could hear the singing of underwater life of Kahje as stars and began to dance about him. He takes in a deep breath, for the first time in years he is finally able to breathe.

"Thane." A woman called. He slowly turned, he knew that sweet voice, and found himself staring into those sunset eyes.

"Irikah?"

She smiles warmly and opens her arms to him. He holds her close, breathing in the spicy scent of her.

"Mah'salrok." He whispers, using his pet name for her; a word which translates into 'My Awakened Soul'. Tears streamed down his face as he holds her tightly. "Mah'salrok." He repeats his arms tightening about her small waist. She presses her warm lips to his, pushing her tongue into his mouth. He almost cries at the taste of her.

"Thane." She sooths, running her hands down his back.

"I'm sorry, Mah'salrok. I am so sorry. I should have been there. I should have…I…"

She places a hand to his lips and silences him. "All is forgiven." She says, he holds her close again, resting his head on her shoulder.

"I will wait for you here." She says after a moment.

"I don't understand, Irikah, I'm here now." He pulls back to look into her eyes.

"It's not yet your time. Kolyat needs you." She spoke softly, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"I don't understand."

"He's looking for you. He'll come for you. Please, keep our son alive. Promise me, please." The desperation in her voice breaks his heart.

"I…I…" he struggles; he wants to stay with her, in her arms, surrounded by the love and comfort she brings. But if his son is in danger he cannot refuse. He sighs, resting his forehead in the crook of her neck. "I promise."

"Mah'salrok…" He whispers, aware of dark swirling energy surrounding him.

"Be happy, my love."

The dark energy intensifies and pulls at him, pulling him away from his beloved. He called out her name as he is lifted up and taken away. She reaches out to him and smiles softly. Thane is violently pulled back into his body, a scream of agony caught in his throat as his muscles convulse.

"Thane, ok?" Monster asks, once his body calms.

"How did I get on the floor?" he hoarsely asks, looking into her battered face. Her left eye swollen shut, her bottom lip split and puffy to the point it looks painful for her speak. Dark blue scabs and black bruises covered her tiny form.

"Monster fix Thane." She says, gently pushing food into his mouth. He tries to protest, insisting she eat.

"Thane eat." She says, pushing another small morsel into his mouth.

"How did I get on the floor?" His throat is so parched he barely has enough saliva in his mouth for the small bite of dry bread she pushed past his lips.

"Masters take Thane down." She whispers then carefully helps him sip some stale water. Thane looks about; his hands are chained together and secured over his head to the wall he had been electrocuted on earlier. His ankles are secured to a large weight.

"Eat." She whispers, offering him another bite of food.

"When Siha come. Take Monster with you?"

"Yes. We'll take you with us."

She smiles brightly, her eyes sparkling with hope. "Siha not come if Thane dead." She says, again helping him sip more water.

"I think your name should be Thisla."

She looks at his quizzically, helping him drink a little more water.

"Thisla is a rare flower that blooms on Kahje; it is a symbol of hope to the Hanar."

She starts to smile again, but gasps suddenly her eyes going wide. "Masters come." She whispers, and scurries back to her corner.


	4. PLANS

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

_..~~~**~~~.._

**4: PLANS**

Garrus walks into the small shop and casually sits at the bar. He praises his luck that the clerk he wishes to speak to is working.

"I haven't seen you before. You new to the Citadel?" The Human clerk asks as he wipes down the counter.

"I'm just passing through, hoping to meet an old friend of mine who tells me of this place. Perhaps you know my friend."

The man chuckled and tossed the rag aside. "Mister, do you have any idea how many people live here?" He asks while restocking some of the bowls on the counter.

"Yeah, but my friend's a Drell, and I understand there aren't too many of them on the Citadel."

The man pauses. "Sorry, can't help you."

"You sure? My friend was here two or three days ago."

"I'm sorry I haven't seen the guy. I can't help you find him."

"I never said my friend was male." Garrus points out.

The clerk sputters, and freezes when he sees a Batarian walk into the shop.

"I'll be right with you." He says to the newcomer who sits at the end of the bar. "Let me get that special for you." The clerk adds, returning his attention to Garrus. The clerk busies himself by preparing a Turian-friendly hot tea and sandwich. The clerk then hurries over to the Batarian to take his order.

Garrus sighs and watches the two from the corner of his eye as he sips the hot tea, which is surprisingly good. He then picks up the sandwich and sees something written on the doily underneath. He tries to act casual as he sets down the half he has and picks up the other; it's a location in the wards and a time.

"Hey!" he flags down the clerk. "I gotta get back; let me get this to go." Garrus says, watching the frightened man rush back over and pack up the food and drink to go.

..~~~**~~~..

"So, my Krogan friend informs me that there is a small bounty out on Shepard. And by small…I mean small. No one in their right mind would go after Shepard for so little." Zaeed begins as he walks into the small ship he shares with Garrus. He tosses his side arm aside and takes a seat beside Garrus.

"Then why take Thane?" he asks, watching the Human wipes some Krogan blood from his cheek.

"Someone had the idea of getting Shepard's location from Thane…or use the poor bastard as bait. We all know Shepard's loyal to a fault. What'd you find?"

"Tried to talk to the clerk, but a Batarian came in and he became skittish. He did however; manage to pass me a note." Garrus passes over the doily for Zaeed's inspection.

"This could be a trap."

"I know that's why you're coming with me."

"What about the kid?" Zaeed tosses the paper to Garrus.

"Still at work. He says he's found the ship's registry and flight plan and is talking with his Captain to end his shift early."

"I meant what are your thoughts 'bout him coming to the meeting tonight?"

"He's an amateur; I don't know how he'll react in this type of situation."

"I can see that, but I've been reviewing his C-Sec record, the kid's a lot tougher than you might think."

"You want to bring him? To meet with the guy who aided in his father's kidnapping?"

"Why not? The kid's got the motivation to get the info we need."

"Because we don't know how he'll react." Garrus argues. He's trying to formulate a loose plan in his mind about approaching the clerk, but the idea of Kolyat being there throws him off.

"I think he'll break the guy's nose, and then we'll get the information we need."

..~~~**~~~..

Thane collapses in his restraints, on the verge of unconsciousness. He's lost track of how many days have passed, and Vox has stopped telling him.

"Just kill him. He's not going to break." Alak suggests.

"He's worth even less to me dead; at least alive he's bait."

"Bait?" Alak's interest piqued.

"Yes. Shepard is loyal to her crew as they are loyal to her. So we set a trap for her. In the meantime let's offer a reward for anyone who can make this Drell talk."

Alak nods.

"Monster!" Vox snaps. The battered and bruised girl quickly approaches. Vox grabs her collar and forces her to her knees. "I want you to hurt him." He orders

"No want hurt." She says in a small voice. Vox responds immediately by slapping her all ready bruised face.

"I didn't ask if you wanted to hurt him. Your feelings are irrelevant." He shouts.

"No, please. No hurt." She whimpers. Vox grabs the girl's collar, forces her to her feet and pushes her towards Thane.

"Then get to work!" he shouts.

"Thisla." Thane hoarsely whispers, his voice so low so the Batarians would not hear him. "It's ok."

"Thisla sorry. No want hurt Thane." She says, tears running down her cheeks.

"I know."

A loud sudden crack rips through the air, followed by Thisla's cry of pain. Thane looks weakly at Vox who is now holding a thin metal rod. The anger is evident in Vox's eyes as he raises the thin rod again to strike Thisla again.

"Quit stalling!" he shouts, bringing the metal down full force onto the girl's back. Again she cries out, tears of pain now filling her eyes.

She raises a trembling hand to Thane's chest. "Thisla sorry." She whispers as dark biotic energy surrounds her and fills him. He can feel it burning through his veins, and his lungs. He tries to hold back his scream, but can't. When he opens his mouth the dark energy spills out with his scream.

Suddenly he finds that he can't catch a breath and begins coughing violently. Vox grabs Thisla and pulls her away, tossing her to Alak. Thane's cough persists and become body racking until he coughs up a large amount of black phlegm. His coughing finally dies down, and he's left sagging and gasping for air.

"Now that was impressive. Looks like he lost half a lung." Alak comments his amusement at Thane's pain obvious.

"And he's still alive. I'm impressed with you Monster." Vox returns his attention to the barely conscious Thane. "Don't suppose you've changed your mind."

"…no…"

"Dax!" Vox called out. Shortly afterwards the Salarian comes into the room. "Is it here yet?"

"Yes."

"Good. Upgrade it." He says, referring to Monster.

Her protesting screams are so loud and so piercing it startles Thane back into awareness. Bleary eyed he watches her struggle as she is dragged out by Alak and Dax.

"What are you doing to her?"

"We're upgrading it to the new L5." Vox answers as Thisla's piercing screams continues to cut through Thane like a knife.

"Anesthetic?"

"Why?" the Batarian seems genially confused by the notion. After all one does not administer to engine before rebuilding it.

Another scream, even more blood curdling than the last, echoes throughout the building.

"Stop it. Please." Thane weakly asks.

"Give me Shepard."

He pauses, and Thisla's agonizing screams tear through him. "I don't know. The Council sent her out on a secret mission. She did not tell me where she was going."

Vox carefully studies Thane's face, weighing the value of the Drell's words as Thisla continues to scream.

"Not good enough." Vox states as he walks out of the room.

..~~~**~~~..

"The fuck…!" the clerk exclaims as he cups his bleeding nose with his hands. He stumbles back, bumping into a large containment box.

Zaeed chuckles and Garrus grumbles, realizing he lost a 20 credit bet. Kolyat takes half a step back and shakes out his hand. It felt good breaking the guy's nose.

"Where's my father?"

"Shit. I think you broke my nose."

"Now, imagine what he'll do if you don't answer him." Zaeed says as he crosses his arms and leans casually against a wall.

"Where is my father?" Kolyat repeats, his hand all ready balling up into another fist.

"Wait! Don't hit me!" The clerk shrieks, raising his hands in defeat. "Look, I know Thane. He comes into my shop about three or four times a week. I didn't want to do it, but they made me."

"Who? Who made you do what?" Kolyat asks.

"And why?" Garrus adds.

"I don't know why, I just did what they told me."

"Who?" Kolyat snaps loudly.

The clerk cringes confessing that a Batarian took his daughter, and promised to return her safe and sound if he drugs Thane. "That's all I had to do was slip this knock out drug into his tea the next time he came in, and this Krogan would take it from there."

"Yeah, I ran into this Krogan, he didn't have much useful information. So that leaves you."

"I swear I'm telling you everything."

"Tell us about this Batarian." Garrus suggests.

"I think his name is Vox. He came to me looking for Shepard, and I suggested he start with Thane. A few days later he came back with my daughter's necklace and a deal." The clerk wipes the blood from his face and looks at Kolyat. "I…look, I'm sorry. I like Thane, but…but I'd kill my mother if it meant saving my little girl."

"What's Vox got against Shepard?"

"I don't know! It's not like the guy shared his life story with me or anything. I don't even know if Vox is his real name."

Zaeed's Omni-tool signaled that he had received a message from one of his contacts. He taps the device twice and quietly steps away from the group to read a message about a reward offered to anyone who could make a certain stubborn Drell talk. As he reads a plan began to form in his mind.

..~~~**~~~..

"It's gotta be me going in. You're a known associate of Shepard. They'll never believe you. Me on the other hand; I'm just another merc."

"Ok, I'm with you so far." Garrus says.

"I go in with the kid…"

"You know I do have a name."

"Good on ya for that…so, the kid and I go in first, you monitor our radio frequency and I'll feed you intel. Any numbers I call out are the number of people in the areas we're passing through, so track our movements. No numbers mean empty space."

"You really think they'll believe I turned against my father?"

"You're not going in as my partner; you're going in as my hostage."

"This may actually work." Garrus says.

"When do we leave?" Kolyat asks.

"It will take us three days to get to them, so we'll spend tomorrow morning stocking the ship and leave in the afternoon."

"Great, that will give me time to talk to Captain Bailey."


	5. THE RESCUE

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

_..~~~**~~~.._

**5: THE RESCUE**

Thisla remains curled in a tight ball, her tiny body shivering violently beneath the thin sheet that acts as her blanket. Her small whimpering sounds are barely heard over Dax and Vox arguing. From what Thane's befuddled mind can decipher Vox wanted to 'upgrade his tool' but didn't think there would be any recovery time.

"It's not an engine where you can put in a new part and start using it. It's a living thing that will need some recovery time. I just removed the old L3 and upgraded it to an L5. That type of surgery is extremely taxing. Monster is going to need several weeks to recover."

"Why didn't you mention this in the beginning?"

"I did mention it. I told you this when you said you wanted to upgrade it."

Vox shouts with frustration and storms out of the room. Dax briefly checks on Thisla, satisfied with her progress, he leaves the room.

Thane softly calls to her, and it is as if his voice causes her more pain. She curls into a tighter ball and whimpers. She rolls, turning her back to him and moaning softly, trying to find a comfortable position. He can see a small pool of blue blood on the floor beneath her head.

..~~~**~~~..

Kolyat walks into Garrus' and Zaeed's ship, cleaning the last of the blood from his face. Captain Bailey kept his word and allows Kolyat to use some of his accrued vacation time, to help Thane. As he was leaving C-Sec a Krogan broke out of custody and was tearing through the new recruits. Kolyat tackled him, distracting the Krogan long enough that a senior member was able to land a debilitating blow, knocking out the dangerous Krogan with minimal damage and causalities. Kolyat on the other hand looked as if he had gone three rounds with a desperate Krogan.

Garrus gasps at the sight of the battered young Drell. "What the Hell happened to you?"

"Krogan tried to escape." Kolyat explains in a nonchalant tone.

"Well, at least it looks like I didn't snag you without a fight." Zaeed explains, as he briefly examines a particularly nasty cut on Kolyat's cheek. "That one might scar."

Kolyat winces as he touches the wound in question.

"Alright kid, let's go over the plan.

..~~~**~~~..

Thane wakes to find himself again on the floor, chained and unattended. Thisla was making some recovery process, but something just didn't seem right. He watches her sluggishly crawl over to him.

"Thisla hot." She says in a small voice and begins feeding Thane the scraps she is given as food. He is relieved to see her eat as well.

"You probably have a fever. Let me see the incision…where they cut you." He clarifies after seeing her curious stare. She turns, allowing him to see the swollen incision which still seeped blood.

"I think it's infected. You need to eat and keep your strength up." He says, watching her shake her head and push what might have been meat into his mouth.

"Thane stay strong." She insists, helping him drink. Her glassy eyes pick up a small piece of bread and ate it before grabbing a piece of fruit and offering it Thane, who is reluctant to take it.

"Thane eat." She whispers, her breathing becoming labored as though she is struggling to stay awake.

"Go sleep, I'm fine." He lies, feeling the fevered heat roll off her fingers with every morsel she offers. Too weak to argue she nods and slowly crawls back to her blanket. Thane watches her collapse and then uses his biotic abilities to gently push her food and water back over to her. He's amazed at how weak he feels after using such a minor biotic ability. He lays his head back and allows oblivion to embrace him.

Thane is awakened by Vox and Dax arguing. He doesn't know how long he's slept, but he suspects it's been at least an hour. He glances part the Batarian to see the Salarian tending to Thisla.

"The wounds are infected; we will have to use omni-gel on it."

"That's a waste of resources." Vox complains.

"It shouldn't take much because of its unique construction." Dax counters, gesturing to Thisla. "It would take years and over a million credits to replace it."

"Fine." Vox says with a wave of his hand. Dax kneel next to Thisla and begins using omni-gel to counter the infection.

While the Salarian battles the infection attacking Thisla's tiny frame, Vox takes his frustration out on Thane.

..~~~**~~~..

"You good, not too tight?" Zaeed asks, securing restraints about Kolyat's wrists. The young Drell mutters that they're fine and takes a deep breath to settle his nerves. His cuffed hands resting in his lap.

"Garrus, you ready?" Zaeed asks, watching the Turian slip into a cubbyhole beneath the floor. It was Garrus idea to hide, just in case the decision is made to search the ship.

"Yes, I'll wait until the coast is clear and then I'll begin monitoring you radio signal." Garrius confirms, sliding the floor panel in place. Kolyat sits down in the co-pilot's seat and calmly allows Zaeed to slip a black bag over his head.

Kolyat listens as Zaeed radios someone on the small moon's surface.

"I hear you're offering a reward to anyone who can resolve a certain stubborn problem."

"And?" a surly voice asks.

"I have your solution; requesting permission to dock."

There is silence for a full 2 minutes before the surly voice returns with directions. Zaeed switches off the communications, but leaves the internal frequency open and on mute, allowing Garrius to track his movement.

"Here we go kid."

"Would you stop calling me kid?" Kolyat asks.

"No." Zaeed answers.

Kolyat responds with a rude statement, after which Zaeed must remind the floor that ships don't laugh. The Human easily navigates the small ship to the multi-level docking bay, where he is informed that this ship will be searched. He lands the craft and grabs Kolyat by the arm.

"Show time kid." Zaeed say roughly guiding him towards the door, where Zaeed is met by three Batarians with pistols.

"You three better get those guns outta my face. I'm here for the bounty."

"You'll understand if we aren't very trusting of someone who worked for Shepard." One of the three says.

"Worked…past tense. I was hired for a job and the job is over. I don't maintain loyalties to everyone who hires me. If I did I'd be a good guy, not a merc."

"Who are you loyal to?" the second asked.

"Gretchen." Zaeed answers with a nasty smile while patting his side arm.

"You can't take that." The first one asserts.

"You ain't stopping me." Zaeed counters, his face smile fading and eyes becoming dangerous. There is a tense moment before the small band of Batarians decides it's not worth the fight. Zaeed, still holding Kolyat's arm pulls him across the metal walk way suspended over a several story drop.

"And who's this?" the third finally says, poking Kolyat with his gun.

"This is how I'm gonna get your Drell to talk." The nasty smile returns.

"Fine, you two check the ship; I'll escort him to Vox. Once you're done return to your posts." The first one says and then signals for Zaeed to follow.

They walk for a bit before Zaeed speaks "You got a small operation going on here, ever considering hiring a freelance like me?" Zaeed asks after a moment.

"Our operation is small enough we don't need the extra help."

"Is that a Heavy Mech? Looks like an older model."

"It still work; so no need in replacing it." The Batarian casually answers as he rounds a corner leading through a large room and then angles towards a doorway on the south side of the room.

"So can we increase the bounty to eight? Any negation room there?" Zaeed asks, after quickly counting the men in the room.

"No."

Zaeed is surprised at just how few men this operation has, the rest of the walk is in silence, and it is not long before Zaeed pulls Kolyat into a dingy room with a familiar assassin strung up with arms outstretched on the far wall. Thane is barely alive, his head hands forward, his chin almost touching hid chest. Blood slowly dripped from his several wounds. Zaeed had a moment to wish he'd brought more omni-gel and maybe a few more stim-packs. The assassin looks near dead.

"Vox, this human says he can make the Drell talk."

Vox waves Zaeed in and dismisses the other Batarian without saying a word. Zaeed pulls Kolyat along and roughly forces him to kneel before Thane.

"So you're gonna make him talk." Vox asks.

"Yep."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"With this." Zaeed says, gesturing to Kolyat.

"Hey Drell, wake up. We got a surprise for you."

Thane slowly comes around, his eyes taking a few seconds to focus on the human standing before him.

"Zaeed?" he asks confusion obvious in his voice and face.

"The Batarian is paying me to make you talk."

"I have all ready told him I don't know where Shepard is. I have nothing more to say." Thane says, his body is weak, but his will is strong.

"I think you'll change your mind after this." Zaeed says, pulling the cloth off Kolyat's head, drawing Thane's attention to the kneeling figure for the first time.

"Kolyat!" Thane gasps, looking at the battered face of his son.

"Don't tell them anything!" Kolyat exclaims.

"Shut up!" Vox orders as he punches Kolyat's face. "So, what will it be Drell, does he die in pieces like his father…" Vox pulls a gun from a holster on his back and holds it to Kolyat's head "…or whole?"

"No!" Thane shouts, even in his weakened state he can feel the dark biotic energy building within him. Zaeed quickly hauls Kolyat to his feet and pushes him back.

"Hey, you haven't paid me yet!" Zaeed protests shielding Kolyat with his body, allowing the young Drell to remove his restraints and take the gun holstered to Zaeed's lower back.

"How about I let you leave with your life?" Vox asks, now aiming the pistol at Zaeed.

"I don't like being double crossed." Zaeed warns.

"Shit happens, human." Vox says as he pulls the trigger. Zaeed throws himself backwards, narrowly avoiding the shot intended for his head as Kolyat reaches around Zaeed to land a headshot as the pair fall.

"You ok kid?" Zaeed asks, quickly leaping to his feet and off of Kolyat.

"Yeah." Kolyat responds, accepting Zaeeds help to his feet.

"We'd better hurry." Zaeed needlessly points out, working to free Thane's feet.

"You…planned this?" Thane asks, watching Kolyat work to untangle Thane's left arm from the chains.

"It was Zaeed's plan." Kolyat explains as he administers omni-gel to the worst of Thane's injuries.

"Here, take this." Zaeed pushes a stim-pack into Thane's hand. Thane pauses for only a second before taking the stim, he doesn't approve of these things, but at this moment, he cannot deny the need.

"Can you walk?" Kolyat asks, noting Thane grabbing his ribs.

"Yes, but she can't." Thane said, indicating Thisla who is still curled in a ball under her thin blanket. "She helped keep me alive. I can't leave her." Thane says

"I'll get her." Kolyat volunteers quickly heading towards the lithe figure. She jolts awake at his touch and tries frantically to push him away.

"It's OK. It's OK. I'm a friend." He says. She looks at him with wide fearful eyes, she knows this face, but is like trying to recall a fading dream.

"Thane son?" she asks, finally placing the face in a memory that is not her own. He nods and explains that they're leaving. She smiles brightly as he swings one of her arms over his shoulder and helps her stand. He is surprised at how heavy she actually is. There doesn't seem to be much to, after all she is just skin and bones.

**Zaeed, you've got 5 incoming.** Garrus reports from the ship.

"Copy that. Right we got some guests coming. Thane you well enough to handle this." Zaeed asks, handing the Drell a familiar Carnifex Hand Cannon. Thane nods as the gun settles into his hand, his body remembering the device. "Here, kid. Try not to shoot me in the back…it pisses me off." Zaeed says handing Kolyat a small sub machine gun.

"I'll cover the rear." Thane says the stim pack and omni gel neutralizing the pain and weariness he should have been feeling.

**They're almost on top of you.** Garrus reported. Without saying anything Zaeed, pressed himself to the left side of the doorframe while Thane took the Right. Kolyat, stands beside his father, whispering to Thisla that they needed to be quiet. She nods weakly.

The heavy footsteps of five men running towards their location can be heard getting louder. Zaeed signals that are to wait until they enter the room and then open fire. Thane nodded in understanding and flattened himself against the wall.

The Batarians never stood a chance; all five of them came running in, expecting to catch the assailants off guard only to be caught in an ambush.

"Come on." Zaeed says, taking the lead. Kolyat follows, relying on his wiry strength to help Thisla move down the hall. Thane is the last to leave the room, keeping a careful eye out for a possible surprise attack them from behind. They move quickly and silently until Thisla stops them.

"Something wrong." She gasps.

"What is it?" Kolyat asks.

She suddenly grasps her head, her mouth open in a silent scream as her face twists in pain. She wiggles so much that Kolyat has no choice but to lower her to the floor when she continues to writhe. "Pain." Is all she can say, tear running down her face.

"What's goin' on?" Zaeed demands.

"I don't know." Kolyat says.

"They replaced her old implant with the new L5 that may be what is causing her pain." Thane explains.

**Zaeed, where are you? I'm picking up some add readings.**

"Odd in what way?" Zaeed asks into his communicator.

**It looks like some explosive, but the ship's computer can't isolate the type.**

"Don't try to steal my property Drell, I'll blow it up before letting someone else take my life's work." Dax warns, coming into view, holding a small cylindrical object in his hand. As he gets closer Thisla's pain begins to recede.

"I will not leave her behind." Thane warns

"If she gets more than 3 meters from this device…" he indicates the small silver cylinder in his hand "…an explosive device in her head will explode."

"Then we're taking that too." Zaeed says, shooting the Salarian in the arm causing him to drop the cylinder. Thane rushes over to retrieve it, handing it to Kolyat, who quickly pockets it.

Dax used the diversion to run the opposite way, ducking down another hallway.

"Looks like the girl has an bomb in her head." Zaeed report s to Garrus.

**What girl?**

"I'll explain later."

**They're attacking the ship! I'm going to handle this, but I won't be available for a bit.**

"Damn it!" Zaeed looks to Thane and Kolyat. "They're attacking the ship. Garrus is fending 'em off, but we'd better hurry."

The group quickens their pace easily dealing with the scattered groups of Batarians they came across. Suddenly there is a deafening explosion that causes the ground to quake.

"Garrus, what the Hell was that?" Zaeed demands.

"Garrus?" Zaeed calls into the communicator, after a moment of silence. The radio remains silent and the group exchanged worried looks. "Garris!" Zaeed calls again. There is the definite sound of coughing over the radio.

**They sent the Heavy Mech. I managed to take it down, but it did some damage to the ship and the docking bay seems to have sustained some damage. You guys better hurry…I'm sure how much longer this place is going to stay intact.**

"All right people we need to get a move on!" Zaeed exclaims, taking the lead again. Thane takes Thisla's other arm and helps his son rush her through the danger to the awaiting ship. The few remaining Batarians are dazed and off balance from being so close to the explosion, Zaeed quickly dispatches them as they continue to run towards the docked ship. A loud groan and sound of crashing metal stop them in their tracks.

"Garrus, what was that?" Zaeed asks.

**Some of the catwalks are beginning to collapse.**

"We're at the door." Zaeed reports easily finding and activating the manual override to gain access to the docking area. The destruction was worse that anyone had expected. The walls are cracked and chunks are missing as dust fills the air threatening to choke them. The lights flicker and sparks rain down from severed power lines. Twisted metal and bodies are scattered all around them. Several of the catwalks leading towards docking stations are missing and those that remain are damaged, including the one leading to their ship.

"We best go across one at a time, don't know how sturdy that walkway is." Zaeed says after surveying the situation. "I'll go first." He bravely steps onto the metal walkway, inching his way across as the metal groans and pops. Once across he signals for the next person to try.

"She can't make it alone." Kolyat says to his father. "I'll take her across, I weigh less than you."

"Be careful son." Thane says, releasing Thisla. Kolyat watches as his father follows in Zaeed's steps, carefully and slowly making his way to the ship.

"Finally Kolyat and Thisla begin to make their way across the uncertain catwalk. The metal creaks as they inch their way towards the safety of the ship. Suddenly there is a loud pop and the walkway slips down a couple of inches. Kolyat's arm tightens its grip about Thisla as he grips the handrail tighter. They are halfway to safety, Thane and Zaeed reaching out to them, calling out to Kolyat. Kolyat takes a deep breath and forces himself not to think of the several story drop beneath them. He tells himself that he will not look down, but he might as well have told himself his heart was not going to beat.

"Mind your footing kid!" Zaeed calls out, pulling Kolyat's attention back towards his goal. He thinks only of the next foothold and the secure end of the catwalk at the ship. Hesitantly he takes another step and then another, Thisla doing her best to stand under her own power. The catwalk slips again, Thane and Zaeed call to Kolyat at the same time, their voices overlapping as the far end of the walkway breaks free, taking Kolyat and Thisla with it as it fell. Thane leaps forward, grabbing his son's wrist as he lands on his belly on a stable portion of the walkway.

"Kolyat!" Thane exclaims, seeing that his son had managed to grab Thisla's wrist, keeping her from falling to the next catwalk, two stories down. From his vantage point Thane can see not only the fear in Thisla's strange blue eyes, but also the terror on his son's face as they both realize he is slipping.

Before Zaeed can help Thane a group of 10 Batarians rush into the docking bay and open fire. Zaeed returns fire, taking down as many of them as possible.

"Garrus!" Zaeed calls, needing another gun to eliminate the approaching mob. The Turian immediately immerges and begins picking off the intruders as quickly as he can fire, his blue blood still seeping from a cut over his left eye. Neither of them is able to help Thane.

"Kolyat! No!" Thane shouts, watching his son slip from his grip. "KOLYAT!" Thane screams, watching his son fall. A moment later there is massive shockwave of dark energy. Thane had once witnessed Samara, the Asari Justicar, use her biotic to slow her fall when she leapt out of a second story window…he'd hoped that is what Thisla had just done.

Slowly Thane rises to his feet, his eyes still fixed on the dark hole before him. "I'm not leaving with out my son." Thane says as the last Batarian falls.

"You're in no shape to go after them." Zaeed protest, grabbing Thane's arm and spins him to look into his eyes.

Thane's response is of a parental instinct, he spins, aiming his weapon at the mercenary. "I'm not leaving without my son." Thane repeats.

The silence is tense as the two men stare at each other until Garrus finally breaks the tension. "I suggest we find a way down there."

_..~~~**~~~.._

A/N: My apologies for the delay in posting. Also, due to a very hectic schedule for the rest of this month my next update for this story won't be until November. I thank you for your patience and apologize for leaving you guys hanging like this.


	6. THE BEST LAID PLANS

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

A/N: Thank you _**SO MUCH**_ for your patience My hectic schedule spilled over into November and December (you kn..the holidays) and then I was in an minor auto accident, but spent much of time focusing on getting better all of which delayed my posting of this chapter. I am so sorry for the holdup, but hope you enjoy this installment.

._.._._..~~~**~~~.._._.._.

**6: THE BEST LAID PLANS**

"KOLYAT!" Thane screams, as his son slips from his grasp. There is a second of weightlessness; a breath escapes Kolyat's lips as he feels a slight tickle in his gut…like the time he and his friends went cliff diving back on Kahje.

"_Just do it, Kolyat! I swear it won't kill you." she teases, with a laugh. Then, without warning, she runs full speed towards the edge of the cliff jumping off with a scream of sheer joy._

_He takes a deep breath, says a quick silent prayer and runs to throw himself off the edge of the cliff. The slight tingling in his abdomen grows to become gut wrenching as the movement of air around him becomes louder. His heart is racing in his throat as a bitter taste fills his mouth. The air is trapped in his lungs, making it impossible for him to breathe, let alone scream so he just clenches his teeth. He squeezes his eyes shut. The smell of the ocean envelopes him and friends splash about in the water as they cheer him on. At the last second he crosses his arm and legs, the ocean spray hits him a heartbeat before he splashes into the warm water of the ocean._

He can no longer see his father, but he is aware of arms wrapping tightly about him as he hits a sudden cushion of air which momentarily stops gravity. Then it's as if the bubble bursts and he is falling again, ending with a body wracking thud, a moment of pain and then blackness.

..~~~**~~~..

The catwalk was just too unstable, forcing Zaeed to move the ship a several hundred yards to the next stable platform. Garrus uses the time to clean and bandage Thane's wounds, starting with his wrists which were raw and scabbed over from the chains biting into him. Thane's ankles were badly bruised and raw from the chains. The mesh pattern on the metal wall he was electrocuted on seems to be burn into his entire back, biceps, and the back of his legs. Dozens of small cuts, abrasion and bruises covered Thane's torso and face. Thane's ribs, especially those on the left are tender to the touch, but without an extensive knowledge of Drell anatomy Garrus did not know if they were broken or not. To be on the safe side Garrus decides to wrap the Drells ribs. When Thane breathes a sigh of relief and Garrus mentally praises himself for his decision.

"I don't know if we have enough omni-gel." Garrus says only half in jest.

"Then save it for Kolyat." Thane says in all seriousness.

"Let me at least take care of your wrists." Garrus says, opting to not press the issue. "I think one of us should wait behind, in case there are more Batarians or Kolyat manages to make it to the ship." He suggests as he bandages Thane's wrists. Once he finished tending to the obvious wounds, Garrus offers Thane a new jacket to replace the shredded shirt he was in moments before. Rather stiffly, Thanes slips into the jacket, noticing the chest and back are reinforced with thick flexible armor plating.

"Good thinkin'…I'll stay." Zaeed says, docking the ship. "I can also scan the area and keep you notified if you're expectin' company. Thane…Take my radio."

Thane takes the radio and then grabs a four pain packs, two stim packs and a few more clips for his weapon. "Do you know where he is?" Thane asks.

"The radio we gave 'im isn't transmitting a signal. It must've broke when he…fell. You may have to check level by level." Zaeed says.

Thane nods and leaves the ship not bothering to wait for Garrus. Zaeed grabs Garrus by the arm and speaks softly to him.

"Hey, that stim-pack I gave him, it ain't one you can just waltz into a store and buy…and it's gonna wear off soon."

"What do you mean?"

"I figured we needed 'im movin'…maybe an hour at most. It's got some other ingredients in it that ain't exactly legal, but will get you movin' awake an' block pain. But when it wears off he's gonna be in a world of hurt, so keep an eye on 'im."

"How long until it wears off?"

"Maybe 30 minutes."

Garrus sighs and curses with feeling under his breath and throws Zaeed a dirty look. He grabs a few more pain blockers before rushing out to catch up with the determined Drell.

..~~~**~~~..

Kolyat slowly and painfully comes to the realization that he is not dead. He opens his eyes, the dim and flickering light revealing little about where he is other than still in the docking bay. He realizes that most of him has landed on a metal catwalk while his head and torso lay on Thisla' abdomen. Carefully he moves his limbs one by one, hoping nothing broke during his landing. His right fore arm sends sharps pangs of pain. Carefully he looks at his arm, grateful it's not broken, but alarmed by the deep cut which is trickling blood down his arm. Cautiously he sits up and discovers how close they came to not landing on the catwalk. He had landed mostly on the catwalk and partially on Thisla who lays sprawled, with her part of her left arm and her entire left leg dangling over the edge. He rips off a portion of his shirt and uses the rag to bind his wound.

"Hey. Wake up." He says softly, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently. He can feel the heat emanating from her skin as her strange Krogan blue eyes open, and slowly focus on him.

"Thane son?" she asks.

"Yes, I'm Thane's son." He says with a tired sigh. After days of Zaeed calling him 'kid' he doubts she will stop calling him 'Thane son'.

She weakly points to herself "Thisla."

"Thisla, huh?" he asks, looking up, hoping in vain to see the ship. "Well, we need to get moving." He says, carefully standing up and discovering new pains in his back which he tries to stretch out.

She nods in compliance and forces herself to stand and follow Kolyat. Her balance uncertain, Kolyat drapes one of her arms around his shoulders as he grips her waist, assisting her off the catwalk. She staggers and does her best to keep up, but the infection in near crippling as it spreads through her body.

"Fall far?" she quietly asks.

"Yeah, I'm thinking two levels maybe three."

"Talk to Thane?" She asks. It takes him a couple of moments to realize she's talking about his radio. He tries to raise either Zaeed or Garrus without success.

"I think the radio broke when we landed." Kolyat answers, tossing the useless device aside.

Thisla's eyes struggle to remain open as she sways; Kolyat notices that there's a thin trickle of dark blood making its way down her neck. He gently turns her head to examine her wound. "We need to make our way to the upper levels. But first we need to get you some medicine to stop the bleeding and try to bring your fever down." He explains, ripping another piece of his shirt off to apply pressure to her wound. "Do you know your way around here?" he asks, placing her hand over the fabric, silently indicating that she should continue to apply pressure.

"No." she answers weakly.

"Ok, let's check out this corridor ahead." He says, taking her free arm and swinging it over his shoulder to support her weight as they move down the unknown hallway.

..~~~**~~~..

"Thane, I'm not sure about this staircase. It looks like it took a lot of damage when the Mech fired off those explosive rounds." Garrus explains as he looks at the twisted stairs, cracked ceiling, and crumbling walls.

"Then find another way down and I'll meet you below." Thane says quickly taking the last few steps to the landing despite the metal groaning its protest and bits of rock falling about him. Garrus quickly catches up to the assassin, grabs him by the shoulders and spins him about to see his face.

"I can respect your need to get to Kolyat!" Garrus hisses in anger, tightly gripping Thane's upper arms. "But we get trapped or killed who's going to help him?"

Thane takes a deep breath and mental step back. "You're right...you're right. I'm sorry. I…I wasn't thinking. Let's find another route." Thane concedes. Garrus releases his grip and takes the lead up the stairs, he only manages four steps before the groaning metal begins to screech and suddenly collapses taking both Thane and Garrus with it. Thane reaches out with his biotic ability, catching Garrus and tossing him safely out the door as the rest of the room comes crashing down about him. Suddenly his brain is on fire and his spine becomes thousands of needles radiating pain the full length of his back, he cries out in pain and collapses to his knees. The biotic dampening drugs the Salarian injected him with are still in his system he realizes as a thin trickle of blood emerges from his nose.

A large piece of the ceiling smashes through the floor, just missing Thane. Despite the increasing pain in his left side Thane manages to roll out of the way of a twisted piece of metal from the stairwell above and then throws himself back into the wall to avoid even more falling debris. He hits the wall and an intensely sharp pain stabs through him pulling a cry of pain as he collapses. The floor beneath him reverberates…threatening to collapse beneath him if he doesn't move, but the agony is near crippling and he finds he cannot move. The floor splits beneath his knees with a deafening crack and slips several inches sending Thane rolling towards the hole made when the ceiling fell.

Fighting through the torture, Thane managed to grab onto a piece of rebar protruding from a large chuck of rubble with his right hand, halting his slide with his feet dangle over the hole. He uses his left arm to shield his face from the small pieces of rock and dust raining down upon him as the world finally settles. Dust fills both the small area and Thane's lungs, causing him to cough. More pain pierces his left side again, alerting him that something is terribly wrong inside. He covers his mouth, trying in vain to stifle both the cough and pained sounds escaping his lips.

Finally the dust and his coughing settle, he rolls onto all fours with the intention of trying to stand, but the pain is so sharp that his left arm refuses to support his weight. He manages to get into a sitting position, carefully placing his back to the wall. While his mind tires to focus past his suffering, his right hand pulls out one of the pain packs which he immediately injects into his side.

A brief second of pain and then a comforting numbness settles in as he thinks he hears Garrus' voice.

..~~~**~~~..

Garrus lands with the solid thud, knocking the wind from him. He lies on the floor, struggling to breath. Finally with a thankful gulp of air Garrus carefully gets to his feet, relieved beyond words to find he's on the safe side of the stairwell. The sounds of destruction continue as the stairwell collapses for nearly a full 2 minutes before finally settling. He calls out to Thane, searching the flickering dimness for his friend. His eyes finally fix on the doorway he had just exited through as dust continues to plume out towards him. He coughs violently as the dust finally begins to die down.

"Thane?" Garrus calls out again, when he is unable to locate the Drell.

"Garrus to Thane." Garrus asks into the radio when he fails to locate the Drell. After a moment of silence, he tries the radio again.

Again there is silence. "Thane, do you copy?" Garrus asks, the cold hand of dread slowly gripping Garrus' heart as he is greeted by more silence.

**What happened?** Zaeed asks.

"The stairwell collapsed. Thane and I got separated."

**I'll start scanning the blueprints for alternate routes.**

"Thane, do you copy?" Garrus tries again.

**Yes.** Thane finally responds. Garrus heaves a huge sigh of relief before asking how badly he was injured.

**No new injuries, if that is what you're asking. Almost everything above me has collapsed completely, and are blocking the stairs. I will have to exit on this floor.** Thane reports.

**There may be a possible route to Thane's floor. There's an elevator at the back of the complex. It looks like there's a mess hall of some type.**

"I'm on it. Thane, once I'm on your level we'll meet there. Copy?"

**Copy.**

**I'm sending a map of the compound to your omni tools.** Zaeed added.

..~~~**~~~..

Kolyat and Thisla stumble into a small storage room holding only a few crates, a small sturdy desk in the corner and a thick layer of dust. He helps Thisla sit on the desk, watching as she leans into the corner, her eyes fluttering to stay awake.

"Stay here, I'm going to see if I can find something for you, ok?" He doesn't wait for a response before he starts rummaging through the forgotten boxes. Luck is finally smiles upon Kolyat; most of what he finds is useless to him but he does happen to find some medical supplies, a sack, and a few articles of light armor that look to be about Thisla's size.

"I found some things that might help you. I'm going to bandage your wound." He says. She nods her understanding and turns around exposing the surgical incision. Kolyat gently cleans the wound as best as he can before applying some omnigel and a bandage. He then helped her into a lightly armored jacket, explaining how this would help protect her. Then with her help, he tends to the wound on his arm.

"Thisla, do you see this?" Kolyat says, holding up the small cylindrical trigger to the explosive in her brain. She nods, remembering the device and the pain it brought. She's worried about where this conversation is going and it shows in her face. "This is the trigger to the bomb in your head." Kolyat explains. "I'm putting it in this bag, along with some of the medical supplies I found. Don't lose it." He says placing the long strap of the bag over her head so that he strap rested on her right shoulder and the bag sat on her left hip.

"We need to get out of here, before someone finds us." He says quietly, helping her off of the desk and down the hall away from the approaching footsteps.

..~~~**~~~..

Garrus finds the elevator Zaeed was talking about; however, it appears as if it has not been operational is many years. With a curse he forces the doors open an finds that the elevator is jammed in the shaft below him, halfway between the floor he wants and one below it. With a silent prayer he climbs down onto the elevator roof, worried that the mechanism may give away at the addition of his weight, thankfully it supported his weight would so much as a groan.

A few more choice words escape Garrus' lips when he realizes the door release is broken. Carefully he climbs into the elevator and pries open the doors. He can just see the release for the floor below and squeezes his arm into the tiny opening to reach that switch. Thankfully the switch moved with little effort, allowing Garrus to pull his arm back and pull open the doors to the floor below. It's a tight squeeze, but he manages to leave the small elevator.

"Zaeed, I couldn't reach Thane's floor, send me the schematics for the floor I'm on."

**Right, give me a few. I tell ya mate, I've seen a lot of dumps in my time, but this shit hole takes the prize.**

Garrus pulls up the map for the compound and sees that the only available staircase is at back … near the docking bay.

"Are you serious?" Garrus asks more to himself than Zaeed.

**Yep, it looks as if it goes to an office about 20 meter from the docking bay.**

"Who the hell designed this place?"

**It looks as if the original plans were modified as things broke down, weren't used, or used for something else. Let's hear it for record keepers.** Zaeed laughs.

Garrus sighs heavily and heads towards the stairs careful to avoid any unwanted attention while cursing under his breath.

..~~~**~~~..

The unwanted memory crashes into Thane's brain like a force of nature. It washes over him and consumes his mind and body, leaving him as powerless as a child face a memory he never lived.

_The floor is cold, but it's a familiar cold, one that has been a consistent presence. The door opens shattering the peaceful slumber and allowing harsh reality to take its place. Vox stands in the doorway with an unknown Batarian._

"_It has no biotic ability, so it better start recouping its cost somehow. Have fun." Vox waves a disgusted hand and walks out. The unknown Batarian has a look that Thisla does not recognize, but Thane does. Thisla's looks up, waiting for an instruction, but none is given and the Batarian continues to close the distance, slowly removing his belt with each step._

_Despite Thane screaming for her to run, she lays there, just waiting for some order, some task she needs to complete. It isn't long until he's kneeling before her, gently touching her face. Tenderness is an unknown in her existence and unfamiliar with it she flinches and looks at the hand. The hand now grabs her roughly by the throat, pushing her back onto the floor. The once tender hand is now a source of pain, hitting and slapping her as it rips open the rags she wears._

"_Off!" she says, trying to push the much larger man. "Off!" she exclaims again, panic quickly taking hold as the man continued his unwanted advances._

_There is a tingling at the base of the skull and a pressure building in the skull desperate for a release. It's a warm pressure, without being hot, but it is persistent in its swirling around the brain like a caged wild animal until…_

"_OFF!" she screams, the pressure finding a release, a target and slams into the her attacker with full force. It sent him flying across the room and slamming him into the wall, breaking every bone in his body. His blood splatters not only on almost the entire wall but also up onto the ceiling and down on the floor._

Thane comes back to the present time and finds himself on the floor, scrambling back away from the memory. Much to his surprise and horror he sees a dead Batarian slumped on the floor, the blood splatter on the wall explains the death. It only takes Thane a few seconds to gather himself an study the grisly scene before him. The splatter from his biotic push was nowhere near as big as the splatter from Thisla's. Judging from the splatter her biotic abilities exceeds his own. Her power both impresses and scares him. After all she's had no formal training on how to control her powers when powerful emotions take control.

..~~~**~~~..

"Zaeed, I'm in the docking bay and I see some blood. Some of it looks Drell, but the other is blue."

**Must be that Asari looking girl Thane wanted to rescue.**

"How can a girl be 'Asari looking' she's either an Asari or she's not. So is she an Asari?"

**Yeah…kinda.**

"What do you mean 'kinda'?"

**She kinda looks like an Asari and she kinda looks like a Turian. Look mate, I can't explain it you have to see her to understand. Follow the blood I think it's them.**

Kolyat and Thisla crouched in the dark, hidden behind a large crate. He looks over at her, holding a finger to his lips, she nods and actually covers her mouth with both hands. Kolyat carefully peers around the box the approaching footsteps and lack of weapon made him cautious.

Slowly and just as cautiously Garrus crept into view, carefully scanning the room with both weapons and eyes. Kolyat breathed a sigh of relief and whispered out to Garrus.

"Kolyat?"

"Don't shoot." He says, helping Thisla stand up. "This is Thisla, she helped my dad and saved my life."

**She kinda looks like an Asari, don't she?** Zaeed said with a laugh. Garrus grumbles something rude about Zaeed sexual preference for mothers and his parentage which causes Zaeed to laugh louder.

"Any sign of Thane?" Garrus asks, trying not stare at the shy and frail looking Thisla.

**None. He must dropped his radio.**

"My dad is in no condition to be out looking for me." Kolyat states.

"I know that and the sooner we find him the sooner we can get out of here."

"It's not that simple." Kolyat said, urgency creeping into his voice.

"What do you mean."

"As you know, Drell have perfect memories we are also prone to slipping into a memory if the right trigger is hit. A common torture technique for Drell is sleep deprivation, as with most sentient beings, the less sleep you have the harder it is to focus. For Drell it means we are subject to Defluipsm." Kolyat sighs as Garrus' blank expression, his mind races trying to find the best explanation. "We become trapped in a memory, and we're not just sitting remembering…we are reliving it. Walking, talking…everything."

"If this happens, how do we snap him out of this."

"Sedation would be the quickest and easiest. Once his body and mind catches up on the rest it needs. Usually the memory will go away on its own."

"Usually?"

"Mostly."

"Any idea what memory Thane may be reliving?"

Kolyat scoffs. "No. But my father spent nearly his entire life killing people for one reason or another, I think it's safe to safe he not trapped in my 3rd birthday party."

"Zaeed we need Thane's last position."

..~~~**~~~..

Thane is beyond exhausted as he stumbles down the hall towards the soft sound of music. All he wants to do is sleep, but he made a promise to her and he always keeps his promises to her. He stagers down the hall, leaning heavily against the wall. There's an annoying sensation in his left side, but dismisses it as exhaustion.

When did this hallway get so long? He finds himself wondering as he approaches the open door. He pauses at the doorway and takes several seconds to collect himself, he promised he'd take her out for her birthday and today is that day; he's not about to let weariness interfere with their plans. Taking one last deep breath he steps into the bedroom, and sees her lying on the floor in a puddle of blood.

"Irikah." he gasps, moving towards her prone figure. He touches her faces, hoping to revive her only to find her skin cold to the touch. He drops his head in grief, tears welling up in his eyes.

Words fail him as his soul slips back into its warrior sleep, unable to deal with her loss. Tears fall from his face onto her still form. He forces himself to look at the fatal wound in her chest. A cold and almost calming anger settles in his heart, the bullet just missed her heart denying her a clean death. This is either a message or a second rate assassin, not that it mattered…the end result is the same.

He leans forward and tenderly kisses her forehead. "I will find who did this, Mah'salrok. I will find them and I will kill them. I promise."


	7. DEFLUIPSM

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own anything, Mass Effect is not mine. The characters, game content and materials in the following story are copyrighted to BioWare. Neither I, nor this story, are endorsed by or affiliated with BioWare, or its licensors or subsidiaries. I do not receive any monetary compensation from the publication of this narrative. All Rights Reserved.

A/N: I am SO sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. I kinda wrote myself into a tight spot and it took me a while to figure out the details of this chapter. I hope you like it and accept my apology.

._.._._..~~~**~~~.._._.._.

**7: **DEFLUIPSM

The Salarian runs down the hall, desperate to reach the office and the weapon within. Thane's pace remains constant with determined steps; he is tired of this chase and casually shoots his prey in the leg.

Dax cries out with pan and collapses to the floor, still trying to scramble away from crazed Drell. Thane casually reaches down and grabs the Salarian by the arm, wincing with pain as he drags him into the nearby office.

"You killed my wife." Thane says his tone as dark as the murderous look in his eyes.

"I don't even **know** your wife! I'm just a bioengineer!" Dax pleads.

"I want to know who hired you."

"Vox! I work for Vox!"

"Really? We'll see about that." he says, not hearing Dax's pleas as Thane kicks the door close behind them.

..~~~**~~~..

"Did you hear that? It sounded like a gun shot." Kolyat says.

"Sounded like it was on this level. We need to be careful." Garrus needlessly adds.

"When we find him, let me approach him we have a better chance of him recognizing me." Kiloyat says, shifting Thisla's weight trying to encourage her to stand. He glances over at her, alarmed that she is no longer conscious.

"Thisla?" Kolyat calls gently, hoping to coax her awake. "Thisla!" he says with a touch more urgency when she fails to respond. "Garrus, we need to stop. Something's wrong."

"Shit. Ok…let's see if we can find someplace over here." Garrus says, leading the way down a nearby hallway. Kolyat carries Thisla in his arms, cradling her close to his chest feeling the intensity of her fever.

Again the fates smile upon the small party as they make it to a large room without conflict. Kolyat laid Thisla on the first flat surface he sees while Garrus locks the door behind them.

"She is burning up." Kolyat says. "I don't know what she is or what they did to her, but her body is obviously fighting it. Look, there's some type of incision here." Kolyat says moving Thisla's head to point to the surgical cut.

"That's the general area where L-implant for biotic would be located." Garrus says taking a closer look at the wound in question. "It looks as if the area is infected, they botched this something fierce. She needs a real doctor and real medicine. I don't think Omni-gel is going to help at this point." Garrus says, when he notices Kolyat pull some out of the bag Thisla caries.

"She looks genetically engineered." Kolyat says, reluctantly returning the gel to the satchel.

"That is illegal…even in this part of the galaxy." Garrus informs, returning his attention the door.

"From what I see she looks Asari, Krogan and Turian." Kolyat says studying her closely for the first time.

"Asari are known for their biotic capabilities, Krogan for their durability and Turians are naturally resistant to low levels of radiation. I suspect she was constructed for a reason, the question is…is she the only one that was made." Garrus says, keeping an ear out for approaching footsteps.

"I'm not going to let anyone else use her ever again." Kolyat says softly while gently yet protectively while caressing her face.

"Someone's coming!" Garrus warns, moving to hide in a blind spot behind the door, while Kolyat grabs Thisla and moves to a closet allowing him a view of the door.

..~~~**~~~..

Thane stumbles down the hallway his mind trapped in a memory, but his body on the verge of giving out. He loses his footing and falls into the wall with a loud echoing thud. A wave of pain courses through Thane as his eyes glassy as they survey the corridor before him, Salarian blood dripping from his hands. Finally he finds the strength to push away from the wall and keeps walking.

Moments later the door opens and Kolyat carefully peeks out, immediately seeing the blood on the floor.

"I see blood leading down the hall and into a room. I'm going to investigate."

"You're not going alone." Garrus says, handing Kolyat the weapon while he gathers a still unconsciousness Thisla. "Go slow." Garrus instructs once he's ready. Kolyat nods and takes the leads, carefully following the blood drops to a closed room. He pauses at the door and listens for any movement on the other side. Once he was certain it was safe he pushes open the door and freezes in his tracks.

"Gods." Kolyat softly says in horror.

"Oh shit." Garrus says, peeking into the room.

"I know what memory he's trapped in. Gods have mercy, I know this memory." Kolyat says, unable to take his eyes from the mangled Salarian corpse.

"Do I even want to know?"

"He's reliving the ten years he spent tracking down my mother's killer. I remember asking him about this…I had to know why he had to hunt them all. Why he was gone for so long." Kolyat finally pulls his eyes from the corpse to Garrus. "The contract was for both my mother and I. If they were too busy with him they'd forget about me." his voice distant as he looks back at the corpse.

"Kolyat…" Garrus says, not wanting the young Drell to slip into a memory of his own.

"This would be the gunman; father spent three days extracting information from him." Kolyat's tone stronger and focused.

"But Thane did not do this in three days." Garrus points out.

"When we're caught in Defluipsm time is fluid, to him it was three days. If the Salarian didn't die, my father would still be… still be… "

"Was you mother's killer a Salarian?" Garrus asks, doing his best to keep Kolyat in the present time.

"No, human. We need to follow the trail." Kolyat says pointing the blood drops they just followed.

"No, we need a plan on how to subdue your father." Garrus corrects.

"A biotic blast might bring him out of it."

"Neither Zaeed nor I are biotic and the last time I checked neither were you." Garrus points out.

"But she is."

Garrus looks at the comatose form in his arms. "And she's in top fighting form." He says sarcastically.

"If we try to tranq him we're either looking at hand to hand combat or possibly getting shot. Plus we need to find tranquilizers."

"There's a sick bay on the floor where Thane was held, we can find tranqs there. I've sparred with Thane know how he fights, plus he is already injured." Garrus says, making it clear which plan he prefers.

"We don't have that kind of time." Kolyat says, indicating to Thisla. "We need to get her out of here and back to the Citadel."

"Tranqing him is a more reliable than Thisla. I may not be able to take him down, but I can get close enough to tranq him."

"He won't give you the chance to tranq him!" Kolyat snaps "My mother's killer was hired by a Turian." He finally confesses

Garrus rubs his brow to battle the oncoming headache "Is there anything else you think I should know?" he asks with a very tired sigh.

"My father will be looking for a ship."

..~~~**~~~..

Zaeed received Garrus' warning just in time. He had barely sealed the hatch when Thane found his way back to the Docking Bay.

"Garrus, our friend has made it to the ship." Zaeed said, keeping a careful eye on the security feed.

**Don't let him on the ship. He's not stable at the moment.**

"Mate, you got a talent for stating the obvious. You'd better hurry back here …he's trying to hack the lock."

**We're on our way.**

"You need to carry her." Garrus says, dumping the unconscious female in Kolyat's arms. "I'm a better shot than you are." He adds as if for an explanation. "Thane made it to the shuttle, so we need to move fast. Zaeed says he's trying to hack the lock."

"How are we going to get there in time?" Kolyat asks.

Garrus pulls up the schematic Zaeed provided and begins plotting out a route. The quickest route is immediately discarded because of Kolyat's and Garrus' unwillingness to leave Thisla behind. "We go this way." Garrus said, taking the lead a plan forming in his head which he relays to both Zaeed and Kolyat.

Zaeed is cursing as he quickly counters Thane's hacking attempts. The assassin is good…damn him.

**Zaeed, we're almost to the docking bay. Is Thane armed?**

"Fuck if I know." Zaeed growls. "I have my hands full with counter measures."

**Can you keep him busy while I get into position?**

"Mate, he's keeping himself busy with the hatch. Get your asses back here."

**We're already here.**

"'Bout bloody time." Zaeed mutters, keeping half an eye on the security feed showing him the docking bay. He can see Garrus carrying Thisla as he moves to hide a small stack of crates. Garrus takes careful aim at Thane; he is Kolyat's backup if this plan does not work. The young Drell steps into view, holding his hands up, showing he is not armed.

"Father." Kolyat calls out gently, standing perfectly still, but his muscles were ready to bolt if Thane does not recognize him. Thane spins quickly, his pistol aimed at this new threat, but he pauses when he sees Kolyat.

"I'm Kolyat, your son. Remember me?"

Thane stares at his son, his weapon still trained on Kolyat as his mind is struggling to recognize the young man standing before him. Thane takes a single, hesitant step forward.

"You were kidnapped, by a Batarian looking for Commander Shepard. I came to rescue you, remember?" he prods gently, still not daring to move, but releases a breath when Thane lowers his weapon.

"Kolyat?" Thane asks his hand reaching out as if he were afraid he was talking to a hallucination. "No, this is a trick. My son is a child." Thane's grip on the weapon tightens, but remains at his side.

"Mother was killed more than ten years ago."

"No…"

"It's true. Think. Remember, you were gone for a long time."

"I…found them?" It was more a statement than a question as Thane's mind struggles to find the memories; gradually recognition and remembrance begin to sparkle in his eyes.

"Yes, you found them all. They're all gone. Remember?"

"I…remember…" his voice trails off as his mind struggles against itself. "…a trap!" Thane snapped taking a shot over Kolyat's left shoulder at an approaching Batarian.

Not seeing the Batarian, Garrus takes a wounding shot at Thane. Thane tries to dodge the shot, but his wounded body does not respond as nimbly as it should. The shot grazes Thane's leg and he falls to the floor taking a wild shot in Garrus' direction. The shot ricochets off of the crates. Thane cries out in pain as he lands, but continues to take shots at the crates Garrus is using as cover, preventing the Turrian from taking another shot. Kolyat tries to call out to his father, still hoping to pull him back to reality. Zaeed curses loudly, as he grabs two pistols and leaves the shuttle.

"Hey Drell!" he shouts in a booming voice, demanding attention.

"You looking for the asshole who killed your family?" He raises his gun and fires a single shot which hits Kolyat square in the chest, sending the young Drell stumbling back into the wall before collapsing.

"Come and get me." Zaeed says, dropping the gun as he runs for cover. Thane screams in rage and starts taking wild shots Zaeed who has taken cover behind a large crate opposite from Garrus. Thane tries to get to his feet, but his battered body refuses to cooperate. He reaches out with his biotic ability, grabs the crate and throws it out of the way. The crate collides with the small stack Garrus is hiding behind with a loud crash. The boxes tumble, landing on Garrus, pinning him beneath their weight.

Before Zaeed can run Thane fires the last of his rounds at his former comrade. One shot ricochets harmlessly off the wall behind Zaeed, two shots strike his armor, but the third hits his shoulder sending him spinning to the ground.

Still unable to get to his feet Thane again uses his biotic abilities to grab Zaeed and send him soaring across the docking bay. Zaeed hits the opposite wall with a loud hollow thud, knocking the wind from him. Garrus can see Zaeed struggling against Thane's biotic powers, and tries pulling himself free from the boxes. Not able to push off the boxes Garrus struggles to reach his firearm which is just out of reach.

"Thisla! Thisla wake up!" Garrus cries out, watching Zaeed being tossed about like an old rag doll. He tries again to reach his weapon, managing to pull himself an inch free from the pile of boxes, his finger just barely brush the barrel moving it closer ever so slightly.

"Thisla! Come one girl we need your help!" Garrus exclaims as Zaeed hits the wall behind him and slides to the floor.

"You shot Kolyat!" Garrus accuses.

Zaeed coughs, spitting out a mouthful of blood. "He'll be fine." Zaeed says nonchalantly "I just stunned him, nothing permanent. Damn, he got me good." He says, inspecting the hole in his right shoulder.

"What the Hell were you thinking?" Garrus demands.

"I was trying to distract him so you could take 'im down. Didn't count on you getting pinned."

"How's Thane doing?" Garrus asks, trying to peer around the boxes.

"Not good, they worked him over pretty good and I'd say that stim-pack you gave him wore off a while ago. He's running on fumes. He'll drop any minute." Zaeed reports. Careful to remain out of sight he tries to push off some of the crates by pressing his back against them and pushing with his legs.

"Will that be before or after he kills us?" Garrus asks, wriggling out from under the boxes. He wastes no time in getting to Thisla, still trying to revive her.

"Thane friend?" she weakly asks, her eyes barely opening.

"Yes, my name is Garrus. We need your help." He says, glancing over at Thane who is struggling to crawl his way to Kolyat. "I need you to hit Thane with a biotic blast."

"No. No hurt Thane." She protests, still struggling to open her eyes.

"I don't want you to hurt him, I want him to sleep. Can you do that? Can you make Thane sleep?" Garrus asks, hoping Kolyat is right about how to bring Thane out of Defluipsm. He glances over again, watching Thane rise to one knee, his wounded leg supporting no weight.

"Sleep?" she asks, but he isn't sure if she's talking about herself or Thane.

"Yes, make Thane sleep and we can get out of here, understand?"

She nods sleepily. "up." She says softly grabbing onto Garrus' shoulders. He lifts the girl up so that she can see Thane; however, the instant he's in view Thane turns and grabs him with his biotic powers. Garrus drops Thisla in his attempt to grab anything that will stop him from levitating.

Zaeed tries to get Thane's attention by stepping into view, hoping that Thane would focus on him and release Garrus. His hopes are shattered as Thane captures him without releasing the Turian. Thisla struggles to clear the stack of boxes to get a clear view of her target.

"Thane stop." She weakly orders as she pulls herself up onto her knees. He turns on her, releasing Zaeed and Garrus to focus the full force of his biotic might on this new threat. She blocks his blast with one of her own, now the two biotics are in a struggle of wills. She is more powerful, but lacks his training, and exhaustion is taking its toll on both of them, but neither one can afford to back down.

"God have mercy." Zaeed says, remaining on the floor, not wanting to distract Thisla from her task.

Kolyat moans softly, distracting Thane for just a millisecond, but it's all the time she needs to break through his defenses. Thane collapses followed by Thisla.

..~~~**~~~..

Garrus' docks at the Citadel, he gathers Thisla up in his arms as Zaeed and Kolyat deal with carrying an unconscious Thane off the ship. They don't make it more than a couple of yards before Garrus looks up to see an all too familiar ship with an all too familiar commander debarking.

"Aw, shit." Garrus sighs.

"What?" Kolyat asks, for an answer Garrus points with his chin towards Commander Shepard.

"Aw, shit." Zaeed echoes when the dark haired woman sees them.

"Thane?" Shepard asks, her eyes locked on the unconscious Drell between Kolyat and Zaeed.

"What happened?" she demands, taking in the Drell's battered state.

"Uh…let's get him to sickbay?" Garrus suggests, really not looking forward to explaining Thane's state or why he was abducted.

**Doctor Chakwas, prepare sickbay for incoming. A male Turian, 2 male Drell, a male human and a…a…female…" she says uncertain to what species Thisla belongs.

"Someone better tell me what the Hell happened." Shepard demands, leading the way back into the Normandy.


End file.
